Biggs' Zone

A Gamer Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

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Biggs 2019 New Years Intentions

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On January 1, 2019

In General Cogitation

Time to make those conventional New Year intentions. I wasn’t very successful in 2018; while I did make an effort to fulfill my intentions, I fell short on a few. The Reading Challenge and Professional Skills Development is where I was really lacking. The important thing is I never gave up attempting to meet my intentions, many resolutions barely survive the third week. Be that as it may, here are my 2019 New Years intentions.

Biggs Labs – Smart Home

I actually made some strides in my home automation projects and I will go into detail of that in the upcoming “Year in Review” post. Just know that Samsung really handicapped me with the sudden change to the app. I’m not really sure what the goal will be for 2019 for any of my home automation endeavors (other than fixing the bugs and issues from 2018). I know we have a few more things we want to integrate, we just haven’t purchased them yet and I’m not entirely sure I’m done with the Raspberry Pi and home automation integration. Watch for a (long overdue) Biggs Lab post in 2019.

2019 Goodreads Reading Challenge

I really dropped the ball with my 2018 Reading Challenge. I set a reasonable goal of 12 books and only (just barely) finished 9. I’m resetting that goal to 12 books again for 2019 and I have a few Dresden books in mind to help me hit that goal. I also have some Star Wars books that are going to carry over from 2018 plus a couple more I’ve added to the list for this year.

As is always my style, when I complete a book I will post a corresponding book review that you will find both on Goodreads and on Amazon.

2019 Fitness and Health Goals

This category is going to be a big focus area for me this year. Of all the areas I’ve been making intentions, this is the one where I’m most successful. I will be kicking things up a notch in 2019. Now that I have two 5k races under my belt, I think it’s time to try for the 10k this year. Granted this isn’t necessarily just my choice; I’ve been encouraging friends to run more and they, in turn, are now challenging me to run a 10k. I will also be putting a heavier emphasis on additional fitness training (i.e. strength and core workouts).

Also, a few years ago I said that when I hit 40 I’m going to stop drinking so much soda. Therefore, since 2019 is the year before I turn 40 I am going to start by reducing the amount of pop I’m drinking on a daily basis. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I will have completely stopped. I’m also going to alter my diet a bit by more than just reducing portions. I’m going to watch what else is in my food before I eat it. No, I am NOT going vegan (I’d rather castrate myself with a broken coke bottle).

Mental health is just as important as physical health and I believe there is something very toxic to my mental health in my life. Social Media. The things I see on Facebook and Twitter sometime infuriate me to the point where I say and think things that are not very nice. I need to cleanse myself of that toxicity. Therefore, I will be greatly reducing my social media footprint in 2019. I’m going to reduce how much time I spend on Facebook and Twitter; hopefully down to maybe once or twice a week. I will find out what is going on the old fashioned way, talk to people. (I know, not very introverted of me).

I’m going to stop here. I don’t want to go into the Professional Skills Development this year as I don’t know what I’m going to do in that area. It’s so volatile that I cannot accurately decide on a skill set to focus on. So with that said …

Happy New Year!!

minions_icon

I could accomplish so much more if I only had minions!

 

Biggs 2018 New Years Intentions

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On January 12, 2018

In General Cogitation

A new year means new goals (remember, I don’t make “New Years resolutions”). As we look forward to my 2018 New Years intentions, I am also going to review my 2017 intentions. I focused on four areas for 2017; Home Automation projects, Reading Challenge, Fitness and Health and Professional Skills Development. In the spirit of full disclosure and accountability, I was about 50% successful. Therefore, I guess as the first goal for the new year I plan to be more successful accomplishing the goals I set.

Biggs Labs – Smart Home

I completed nothing for my home automation project! I was hoping to have installed the dimmer switches and the Siri integration and none of that happened. If I can get my wife on board to help encourage me to work on it this year I think I should get this done in 2018. A potential roadblock is a broken SD card and lack of access to an SD card reader. I really want to get Siri working with our home automation. As I said last time, I just need to sit down and really focus on this task.

 2018 Goodreads Reading Challenge

I already went into more detail about my reading challenge results from last year; suffice it to say I was 14/15 despite what Goodreads said. The reading challenge goals for this year will be a legitimate 15 books, starting with reading Ready Player One again (in anticipation for the movie). I also have quite the list of Star Wars books to read (which begins with Thrawn), the Extracted trilogy and, of course, more Dresden Files.

As I complete books I will often post a book review. All my book reviews will be posts here but I will also post them on Goodreads and Amazon

 Fitness and Health

I was marginally successful with my wellness goals last year. The biggest accomplishment was actually running in my first 5K; last year I said if I miss all my other goals, completing a 5K would not be one of them. Mission accomplished! I will be running the Flying Pig 5K again this year and my goal this time will be to finish it faster.

As I have done every year since 2013, I completed the Walk to Mordor Nerd Fitness challenge. This year I’m sure to complete it again but I do need to start working my way through the second half of the challenge. If my math is correct I would need to start reaching an average daily step goal of 16,000 step. It is quite a lofty step goal considering I only average about 11-12k now.

Professional Skills Development

If it wasn’t my home automation projects where I dropped the ball in 2017 then it was in this category. I will admit that with all the changes that happened last year, job wise, I didn’t have many opportunities to focus on new skills. Last year I chose Swift and Angular 2 as potential new skills to pursue. This year my focus will more closely match what is needed for my career at my new job. The fact that time for innovation is supposed to be part of our weekly work routine will be wonderful help!

My 2018 goals do not seem as ambitious as they were in 2017 but perhaps its better that way. Maybe I wasn’t successful because I tried to accomplish too much. This year I am going to keep my goals a bit more reasonable. Also, I think I’ve said enough about the New Year, time to return to your regularly scheduled programming.

/MTFBWY

minions_icon

I could accomplish so much more if I only had minions!

 

Biggs’ Labs: Home Automation Progress Update

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On July 24, 2017

In Biggs' Labs, Technology

Smart Home

It was November the last time I talked about my Home Automation and Lab projects; it is time for some updates. Unfortunately I don’t have a lot to tell. The last eight months have been busy on the work front and on the home front. If you know me at all you know that November through the end of December is my craziest time of year. There were a few things I had to sort out that were pretty significant changes to my work and home life. Changes that also require some time to adjust and acclimate. Here is a quick reminder of the projects I have on deck and in progress:

In Home Network

MythTV, Plex and FreeNAS (DVR and Media server)

Home Automation Phase I

Home Automation Phase II – with Raspberry Pi integration (still in progress)

Home Automation Phase III (still in draft mode)

Best Laid Plans …

I am behind, to say the least. I guess I try to do too much in a day and when there is time to work on these projects, I often don’t feel like sitting in front of the computer. There is also the little problem of the SD Card reader I bought to use on my main PC to install the Raspberry Pi software. It doesn’t appear to be working properly. It is either that or the SD card I am trying to use has gone bad. Either way, it’s a huge roadblock!

I also discovered that my Plex server suddenly stopped allowing me access to my own movies. Typically this issue can be resolved by updating the plug-in within FreeNAS. Unfortunately that isn’t the case this time. There are several people who I have given access to my movies so fixing that has taken a higher priority. On top of all of that work has increased in intensity thus I am working late hours.

So all that to say, I’m behind. I’m trying to catch up and I don’t really have anything else to update.

hal“I’m putting myself to the fullest possible use. Which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do” – HAL 9000

 

Biggs Declares 2017 Intentions (Not Resolutions)

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On January 6, 2017

In General Cogitation

2017 IntentionsI never make New Years Resolutions, I believe I’ve covered that before. As odd as it sounds, I have more motivation to complete a set of goals (instead of the proverbial “resolution”). So what are my 2017 intentions? I know this year will be a year of change but I’m not at liberty to say, yet, what will be changing. You will know when it happens because it will warrant a blog post (or two). I do not want to write another long-winded post so, for brevity sake, I’m going to get started.

Biggs Labs – Smart Home

I have all the components I need now to complete my Siri integration with SmartThings using a Raspberry Pi. I just need to make myself sit down to install and configure. My Christmas lights were the perfect test subject for programming automation using SmartThings Apps. While we were away for Christmas, SmartThings was programmed to turn on my outdoor Christmas lights and my indoor lights, thus making it appear that someone is home.

We have smart dimmer switches which we plan to install to control the LED ceiling lights. This will give us the capability to adjust the lighting, as necessary, using SmartThings/Z-Wave capable devices (i.e. our phones). Once the switches are installed and the Raspberry Pi is configured, I should be able to ask Siri to dim the lights (ex: for a movie, perhaps).

 2017 Goodreads Reading Challenge

In a previous post I took you through my year in books. I have already committed to the same reading challenge this year, however, I did not go crazy and set the goal to 25 books. I did set it to 15 books again because I know I came close last year. It’s going to come down to choosing the books carefully. Obviously the longer the book the longer it will take me to read it. I guess its good that George R. R. Martin doesn’t plan to release his next book this decade year. Here are a couple of books I am committing to this year:

  •   Summoner of Storms – I am currently about half way through book 3 of the Catalysts of Chaos series.
  •  War of the Ancients: The Sundering – Finish the final book in the War of the Ancients trilogy by Richard A. Knaak.
  •   Clash of Catalysts – Volume 4 of C. Greenwood’s Catalysts of Chaos series. The final chapter in Earth Realms battle against Rathnakar and his evil forces.
  •  Wrigleyville – A magical history tour of the Chicago Cubs. This is a book I’ve been wanting to read for years, however it is quite long.
  •  Heartless – The latest re-imagining of classic storybook characters by Marissa Meyer. I have high hopes for this book as Marissa Meyer tells a story about the Queen of Hearts, long before she was shouting “off with their heads”

 Fitness and Health

Flying Pig MarathonOf course I am doing the Walk to Mordor challenge again, in fact I will also complete the extra 1,625 miles for the “and Back Again” leg. This year I am determined more than ever as I need to drop 30 pounds (again). Around March I will start the Couch-2-5K training program again. I will complete it this time and I will then run my first 5K. If I miss all my other goals this year, running my first 5K will not be one of them. This is something I really want to accomplish. I haven’t chosen which 5K to run yet. It might be the Flying Pig or it might be the Red Legs.

If you are interested in trying the Walk to Mordor challenge yourself, I have a place where you can track your progress. Head over and sign up!

Professional Skills Development

One of my goals, every year, for my job is to learn a new technology that might be useful on a current project or on future projects. This will be important this year more than any other year. Therefore I am making it a personal 2017 goal to either learn something brand new and/or become proficient in something that has been recently updated. I don’t have anything specific in mind yet, but my preliminary thoughts are Angular 2 or Swift (iOS development language). I will be using my favorite online video learning sight, Pluralsight. It doesn’t matter what you do for a living, there is always an opportunity somewhere to improve on a skill or learn a new skill. It’s great for your career and its great for your mind.

All right, I’m starting to get too verbose. Stopping with this small list.

Good luck with your 2017 Intentions!

minions_icon

I could accomplish so much more if I only had minions!

 

Biggs’ Labs: Smart Home Phase I [Complete]

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On November 22, 2016

In Biggs' Labs, Technology

Smart Home

The summer presented some additional challenges which pushed back phase I of my smart home project. I am also adding another phase to the project. Every time we see some new appliance or module we immediately start to budget to add said module. Be that as it may, I have updated the project checklist:

In Home Network

MythTV, Plex and FreeNAS (DVR and Media server)

Home Automation Phase I

Home Automation Phase II – with Raspberry Pi integration (in progress)

Home Automation Phase III (in draft mode)

There are many flavors of home automation you can choose from and several factors you should consider before you choose one. How dirty do you want to get your hands? How user-friendly do you need the system to be? What other technology will you want to be able to integrate with (i.e. iPhone, Google, Echo, etc)? If you haven’t figured it out by  now, I’m not talking about professional installation of a home automation system; I’m talking about a Do-It-Yourself kind of project. When you are deciding on a product you should also be aware of which protocol it supports. The protocol is important when you are selecting additional modules and other peripherals.

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Biggs’ Labs: MythTV, Plex and FreeNAS [Complete]

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On July 30, 2016

In Biggs' Labs, Technology

MythTV, Plex and FreeNASI am crushing it on these tech projects I have going on at home, I just haven’t been very good at keeping up with posting about them. I can mark another item off the list as my MythTV, Plex and FreeNAS project is complete.  Here is the updated project list:

In Home Network

MythTV, Plex and FreeNAS (DVR and Media server)

Home Automation (in progress)

Home Automation – Raspberry Pi integration (on pause)

All of the projects I have on deck were all relying on getting the in-home network operational. I imagine I will be able to complete the remaining projects faster now that I have a proper network set up. In fact that was the case with my Home Media Server project. I have gone on a tirade before about how much I loathe doing the cable & Internet provider dance. It finally reached a point where I became tired of paying $130+ for hundreds of channels that I rarely watch. I do enjoy some of the specialty channels such as DIY, HGTV, Velocity and Food Network but sometimes those channels were more for background noise. Besides I think they will eventually be available through other media sources (i.e. Netflix, Hulu, Apple TV).

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